The preferred embodiment relates to a method and a control device for processing and displaying diagnosis data of a printer or copier, which data are also referred to as trace data. Such trace data are, in particular, operating state data which describe the current operating state of the printer or copier, as well as use data which are assigned to individual operating events, such as, for example, print data. A printer or copier, in particular a high-performance printer or copier having a printing speed of ≧100 pages A4 per minute includes a number of assemblies having separate control units. These control units are, for example, microprocessor-controlled or include a personal computer.
In known printers or copiers, the trace data are separately stored in each individual assembly and can be directly read out from the respective assembly by a service technician with the aid of a service computer which is directly connected to this assembly. If a critical operating state or an error occurs, then the trace data are individually read out from the respective assembly or assemblies by the service technician and are processed with the aid of a specific evaluation program for evaluating diagnosis data in the specific control unit. The processed diagnosis data are analyzed during processing and are displayed on a display in an appropriate preset form, as a result whereof in particular operating states of the assembly as well as use and control data are displayed in order to determine a cause of error and to be able to take countermeasures.
For reading out the trace data from an assembly after occurrence of a critical operating state or an error, it is necessary in the prior art that a service technician who has a good general technical knowledge analyzes the critical operating state or the error with the aid of the trace data at the printer's site or the copier's site. In known printers or copiers it is indeed possible to locally store the trace data on a data carrier, such as a floppy disk, and to evaluate the stored data at a later point in time, for example, in a service center of the manufacturer of the printer. However, an operator already needs considerable knowledge for selecting and storing the trace data of a specific assembly of the printer or copier, as a result whereof an operator cannot be expected to save the trace data of a specific assembly on a data carrier.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,382 a control system for a printer or copier is known, in which a portable maintenance device can be connected to a maintenance interface of the printer or copier. By means of this connection first data comprising status information are transmitted from the printer to the maintenance device. In addition, second data comprising status information can be input into the maintenance device. At least one piece of stored guide information on the basis of the first and second data can be displayed with the aid of the maintenance device. The stored data can further be transferred to a data processing system.
The assemblies of the printer or copier are also referred to as a component, each control unit of the component including hardware, firmware and software. In their entirety, the components of the printer or copier form a common technical process. In the case of critical operating states or error states of one component, these are to be analyzed with the aid of internal operating states, control data and use data processed by the component in order to determine the cause of error.
From the document U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,452, a system is known in which one diagnosis system control executes one diagnosis routine assigned to a diagnosis client with the aid of the respective diagnosis client.
From the document U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,382, a device is known which can be connected to a printer or copier in order to read out error data from the printer or copier.
From the document EP 0 927 933 A2, a remote monitoring system is known which monitors several devices with the aid of satellites.
From the document DE 292 20 490 U1, a printer or copier is known which has a data communication interface via which the data of the printer or copier can be read out and can be written. The reading out and the transfer of these data preferably takes place via a computer network.
From the document EP 1 338 928 A1, a method and a device for providing log data of a modularly constructed apparatus such as an electrophotographic image generating machine are known. The individual modules of the apparatus each have a fault storage, the respective content of which is transferred to a central control which evaluates the faults.
From the document WO 01/55862 A1, an arrangement and a method are known, in which with the aid of a parser module media data streams are divided into different product format types in order to transfer the correct commands to an analysis module. Further, log packets are transferred to a parser module which have so-called generator IDs. The parser module can identify with the aid of these IDs which program has sent the current packet.
From the document U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,722, a method and an arrangement for the diagnosis of system components are known, in which components and subcomponents are hierarchically organized, various diagnosis modules being provided which access data for analysis, which data are stored in a so-called black board data storage area. Several diagnosis modules which perform different analysis functions are provided. An analysis of a group of components within the selected hierarchical level is performed, in which the data stored in the black board data storage area are used. So-called log files can likewise be analyzed.
Other known high-performance printing or copying systems comprise several technical processes which are executed on various hardware platforms. Thus, print data are generated by a host computer and transferred to the printer or copier. The printer or copier includes several main control units, such as a controller and a device electronics. The main control units at least comprise control subunits which each form a component of a technical process. The controller has, for example, an input and output module, a raster module as well as an interface module. The device electronic has a main module, several submodules as well as satellite modules.
Upon occurrence of critical operating states or errors of the printer, operating states and current data of the individual components of a technical process are required for determining the cause of error. The operating states and the current data are generally referred to as trace data. A time-wise assignment of trace data of several components is not possible or only possible with considerable difficulty in the prior art since the trace data of individual components are analyzed and displayed with different program modules. In general, the processors, the operating states and the time bases of the individual components are different from one another. A cross-component analysis of the cause of error is thus very difficult.